Monthly Planning MTN: November 2016 update

The colors I used for this month are in purple/ lavender tones. I started off with mixing some tombow markers and hand lettering the days of the week on the vertical side to give the page a starting color. Then I wrote the dates and events with my Pelikan M205 Taupe with Caran'dache storm. My fave pen and ink combination that month. I added stamp prints from Sakuralala and some fun stickers in a matching color tone so fill in some gaps. As the month went on, it became busier and it was harder for me to write down events that took place in my weekly planner. SAD really zapped my energy the last half of the month but we did end up doing some fum things esp. in the beginning.

My wedding anniversary is on the 5th of november and we always do a little get away, but this year we've decided to go for a longer (and warmer) trip to Seville, Cadiz and Gibraltar aria. It was so wonderful and I really loved documenting that bit. Read about my adventures and shopping finds in Seville HERE. It's definitely a city I highly recommend to visit as it was our second time there and certainly not the last!

Just wanted to show you a detail in the overview. I thought it was fun to pair the "fly me to the moon" postoid sticker from MTN with S-Jane Mills artwork of Astrogirl below it. I bought to stickers last july and thought this one would be fitting to end the month with. It's also the end of the undated planner book, so my last update in this form. I will do an overview update later this week and share my thoughts using the undated monthly planner this way for a year. And if I will continue it... so look out for that post later this week. 

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!

namasté

Monthly Planning MTN: October 2016 update

Finally had the chance to work on my October update in my Midori traveler's notebook. It sorta looks like nothing happened, but this month was busy with work commitments and my cyanotype course I participated in at the LAK. I had an idea in mind with some Blue Ghost Ink and experimented with it.

First I started off very simple, just writing down the days and dates with my trusty faber castell pitt pens. Seeing they are filled with india ink, it is water proof and also resilient against other inks.

I had my Pilot MR inked with Noodler's Blue Ghost ink and with that I wrote down the events which happened that month. Combined with stamps from Sakuralala fall collection 2015 line and memento stamp inks, they gave really fun effects!

I also wanted to use this gorgeous tree stencil from the Crafter's Workshop designed by Joanne Fink (zenspirations) to convey the change in season. I began to dab some mossy green versamark chalk inks with a foam sponge and topped it off with orange distress ink to create some ombre in the tree.

Then stamped some autumn leaves stamps on the page and colored them in with the blue ghost ink.

And this is the finished spread. What's super fun is that well there is nothing to read like in the picture on top, but when you turn off the lights and shine a black light on it, it gives some really fun effects!

It's kind of hard to photograph but I hope you get the idea :)

Now to mull over a layout for this month and then my undated monthly planner is full!! How time flies!

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

namasté

Monthly Planning MTN: September 2016 update

After a bit of an underwhelming August, the month of september was filled with bright and colorful days!  I was excited to start on this spread because a lot of cool things happened and I wanted to use a fun combination of rubber stamps to set this month's theme which was "Ink, pens and writing". But before I got started I had to lay some ground work.

I really enjoyed the use of Carabelle stamps and Tombows in my spread of last month, but it bled through a bit on the back. A while back a friend gave me an A5 pad of cream colored Tomoe River paper and I used a couple of pages to cover the next pages I would be working on. The paper is really thin but sturdy and holds up ink like a trooper, so it was a good choice to add that as an extra barrier. I drew the month's grid with Faber Castell Pitt pen and stamped the carabelle ink spatters and journal stamp on it with various memento ink colors. Then I used the date stamper from the top picture to mark the days.

The page needed some images on pens on them and this was a great excuse to use the fountain pen and nibs rubber stamps from Impression obsession (calligraphy 1 and calligraphy 2) and Viva Las Vegastamps (fountain pen and nibs). Definitely liked the way how it all came together. Now it's time to fill up the month!

I wrote it all down with my Faber Castell Pitt artist pen because it's water proof. I colored the grids with different colors Tombows and highlighted the best days in green. For some more decoration I added a couple of my home made arti-stamps! Yes, I know I still need to do a post on how I made those!!

The best days definitely happened on the weekend. The first ever Pelikan Hub on Friday the 16th and a week later on saturday, the 28th edition of the Tilburg Penshow were definitely highlights of the whole year! And the fact I had a nice 2 week holiday in which I enjoyed wonderful " Indian summer days" at a spa resort with my sisters :)

The completed spread in full color! I thought about adding a quote like I have done in most spreads, but I felt it didn't need one. This might be my fave spread so far! I am excited to work on October's spread because I am going to use a stencil in combination with stamps. And maybe try a bit mixed media. Having experimented covering the pages with Tomoe River to counteract bleed through on the back pages, opens up exciting possibilities!

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful weekend.

namasté

Monthly planning MTN: August 2016 update

So I have been well behind with my monthly updates in my Midori Traveler's notebook, but this past weekend I finally had some time to finish both august and september speads *big sigh of relief*

August has been a bit of a difficult month for me, as I was sick with a Bronchitis infection that lasted about 3 weeks. It seemed to rain like forever, until the last weeks rolled around and brought some much needed sunshine and happiness.

I decided to use some of my favorite Carabelle stamps to decorate the pages for august. I chose the cloud and raindrop stamps designed by Birgit Koopsen and the Pavots Rigolos by Azoline to set the mood for this month's theme. I stamped them with memento dewdrops and colored them in with tombow markers and blended it with a water brush. After the blending I immediately heat dried the page with my heat tool so the colors would not seep through the back page as much.

Sadly it did a little, but it could have been worse! But I have found a perfect solution for this problem with my next spread, which I will share with you on my september update.

August was a slow month and I spent most of my time recovering from the infection. But one thing really stood out and that was the Amsterdam Comic Con! It was fantastic! I got to meet James Masters, Christopher Judge, Lance Hendriksen and met up with good friends in that weekend of whirlwind fun! I was glad to be recovered that weekend to enjoy it fully. Most of the days were left empty as I spent my time on the couch and re-watch episodes of Dawson's Creek. I thought it would be fun to fill those up with the cute owl emoticon stamps from Minipunkt.  To remind myself that difficult times will pass I put in the quote "It can't Rain all the time" (from the Crow) and Flowers will Bloom (but it first needs rain to do so...)

With the addition of the happy owl faces, it turned out to be a fun spread after all. I spent most of my time just being and resting and the spread does reflects that. September is a whole different spread with a lot of activities and I can't wait to share that with you next week. 

Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend!

namasté